Moorfield Storey (March 19, 1845 - October 24, 1929)
Occupation Moorfield Storey was a successful Bostonian lawyer, publicist, civil service reformer, and civil rights leader. He graduated at Harvard and continued to study at Harvard Law School. From 1867 to 1869, Storey was the private secretary to the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Charles Sumner. In 1869, Storey was elected as president of the American Bar Association. He then became vice president of the New England Anti-Imperialist League in 1898, and president of the league from 1905 until it faded away in 1921. From 1910 until his death, Storey became the first president first president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During the election of 1900, Storey considered running for presidency as a third party candidate of the National Democratic Party, or the Gold Democrat, but thought it was impractical and went against it. Instead he ran a campaign for Congress as an independent anti-imperialistic candidate; his platform included gold policy and free trade. He lost in the campaign. Position on Issue Descended from the early New England Puritan colonists, Moorfield Storey was closely connected to the abolitionists. He was a notable civil rights activist fighting for equality for all races, including African-Americans, Native Americans, and in the Philippine Annexation issue, the Filipinos. He was the founder and the president of the Anti-Imperialist League, which opposed US annexation of the Philippines. Storey also wrote a book, The Conquest of the Philippines by the Unite States, 1898-1925, which summarized the war crimes of the Philippine-American War.
List of reasons for interest in topic As a strong advocate for civil rights and individual equality, Moorfield Storey argued that annexing the Philippines does not follow the republican principle in which the country should be governed by its own people. Quoting from Abraham Lincoln, Storey explained “When the white man governs himself that is self-government, but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government—that is despotism (a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power).” He also questioned McKinley’s unproposed war on Philippines and challenged voters “whether the American people propose to abide by the principles upon which this government was founded, to insist that under our flag all men shall have equal rights and equal opportunities and that ours shall be a government of laws and not of men, or whether it will turn its back upon the ideals of our fathers and
forsake the paths of freedom.” He also condemned the Republicans on the rise of the war “ undertook the conquest of the Philippine Islands and proposes to hold their inhabitants for an indefinite time as subjects, governing them against their will and without any constitutional rights.
Also, America was at its horizon of expansion, where “power is always used to benefit him who wields it.” Thus, “the king aims to preserve and strengthen his dynasty. The oligarchy clings to its privileges at the expense of the people.”-Moorfield
Issues within the country was related to the topic also. Storey felt that annexation of the Filipinos would heighten racism in America, he charged that “The Philippine war has paralyzed the conscience of the Republican party” where whites, already denying suffrage and other basic rights to blacks, would possibly suppress the Filipinos across the globe.
(March 19, 1845 - October 24, 1929)
Occupation
Moorfield Storey was a successful Bostonian lawyer, publicist, civil service reformer, and civil rights leader. He graduated at Harvard and continued to study at Harvard Law School. From 1867 to 1869, Storey was the private secretary to the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Charles Sumner. In 1869, Storey was elected as president of the American Bar Association. He then became vice president of the New England Anti-Imperialist League in 1898, and president of the league from 1905 until it faded away in 1921. From 1910 until his death, Storey became the first president first president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During the election of 1900, Storey considered running for presidency as a third party candidate of the National Democratic Party, or the Gold Democrat, but thought it was impractical and went against it. Instead he ran a campaign for Congress as an independent anti-imperialistic candidate; his platform included gold policy and free trade. He lost in the campaign.
Position on Issue
Descended from the early New England Puritan colonists, Moorfield Storey was closely connected to the abolitionists. He was a notable civil rights activist fighting for equality for all races, including African-Americans, Native Americans, and in the Philippine Annexation issue, the Filipinos. He was the founder and the president of the Anti-Imperialist League, which opposed US annexation of the Philippines. Storey also wrote a book, The Conquest of the Philippines by the Unite States, 1898-1925, which summarized the war crimes of the Philippine-American War.
List of reasons for interest in topic
As a strong advocate for civil rights and individual equality, Moorfield Storey argued that annexing the Philippines does not follow the republican principle in which the country should be governed by its own people. Quoting from Abraham Lincoln, Storey explained “When the white man governs himself that is self-government, but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government—that is despotism (a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power).” He also questioned McKinley’s unproposed war on Philippines and challenged voters “whether the American people propose to abide by the principles upon which this government was founded, to insist that under our flag all men shall have equal rights and equal opportunities and that ours shall be a government of laws and not of men, or whether it will turn its back upon the ideals of our fathers and
forsake the paths of freedom.” He also condemned the Republicans on the rise of the war “ undertook the conquest of the Philippine Islands and proposes to hold their inhabitants for an indefinite time as subjects, governing them against their will and without any constitutional rights.
Also, America was at its horizon of expansion, where “power is always used to benefit him who wields it.” Thus, “the king aims to preserve and strengthen his dynasty. The oligarchy clings to its privileges at the expense of the people.”-Moorfield
Issues within the country was related to the topic also. Storey felt that annexation of the Filipinos would heighten racism in America, he charged that “The Philippine war has paralyzed the conscience of the Republican party” where whites, already denying suffrage and other basic rights to blacks, would possibly suppress the Filipinos across the globe.
Works Cited
"Anti-Imperialism and Liberty by M. Patrick Cullinane." Anti-Imperialism and Liberty by M. Patrick Cullinane. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <__http://www.antiimperialist.com/webroot/peopledocuments/membership/Peoplepages/MoorfieldStorey.html__>.
"Moorfield Storey ." Moorfield Storey Exhibitions myLOC.gov (Library of Congress). MyLOC, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <__http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/naacp/earlyyears/ExhibitObjects/MoorfieldStorey.aspx__>
"Moorfield Storey." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorfield_Storey__>.
"The Party of Jefferson." Reason.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <__http://reason.com/archives/2007/11/27/the-party-of-jefferson__>.
Storey, Moorfield. The Importance to America of Philippine Independence Address Delivered before the Harvard Democratic Club at the Harvard Union, Cambridge, October 28, 1904. Boston: New England Anti-Imperialist League, 1904. Print.